Blues' ownership through the years

5:45 a.m. EST, May 10, 2012|Dan O'Neill, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

St. Louis businessman Tom Stillman and his band of investment brothers will announce today they have closed a deal to purchase the Blues. The group becomes the eighth to hold the keys to the franchise since its inception.

Maybe eight will be worth the wait. None of the previous owners has brought a Stanley Cup championship to St. Louis.

The Blues joined the league in 1967, one of six expansion teams that doubled the size of the NHL from six to 12. The original owners were successful insurance executive Sid Salomon Jr., his son Sid Salomon III and Robert Wolfson. The elder Salomon was not enthralled with the idea of owning a hockey team initially, but his son persuaded him to take the plunge.

The group spent $2 million to buy the franchise, $4 million to purchase the 38-year-old Arena on Oakland Avenue from Chicago's Bill Wirtz and $2.5 million more to renovate the building. Audience capacity was increased from 12,000 to 15,000 at the Arena, which had been home to the Central Hockey League's St. Louis Braves.

The Blues got off to a slow start in their initial season. But from late December through January the Blues lost only twice in 16 games and grabbed a foothold. With silver-jacketed organist Norm Kramer pumping out "When the Blues Go Marching In," hockey became a happening in St. Louis. Attendance went from 8,897 in 1967-68 to 18,238 in 1970-71.

To this day, in terms of contention, the Salomon group remains the most successful of the Blues owners. In each of its first three seasons, the team advanced through the expansion side of the NHL playoff bracket to the Stanley Cup finals. In each instance, the Blues were swept in four games, twice by the Montreal Canadiens and lastly by the Boston Bruins. The Blues remain 0-12 in Stanley Cup finals play.

The Salomons might have been the most generous employers in sports history. They treated the players to all-expenses-paid Florida vacations when seasons ended and bought them gold wristwatches for scoring hat tricks, etc. When Red Berenson scored six goals in a game on Nov. 7, 1968, ownership presented the outdoor enthusiast with a new station wagon, a canoe attached to the top and a Browning 20-gauge shotgun inside.

Berenson, who had played previously in Montreal and New York, commented: "In New York or Montreal, all you'd get would be a handshake."

But the roller coaster started to descend in the mid-1970s. With his aging father stepping back, Sid Salomon III took a more prominent role in running the franchise and upheavel became the order of the day.

Goaltending anchors Glenn Hall and Jacques Plante retired, Berenson was traded and "Sid III" began changing coaches and general managers like it was a court order. Declining revenue reached a critical stage by the end of the 1976-77 season, and the Blues reduced their management staff to three.

In steps RALSTON Purina

Minority owner Wolfson and Blues president Emile Francis persuaded Ralston Purina executive R. Hal Dean to invest in the franchise. The Checkerboard Square chief even re-painted the fading Arena and re-dubbed it the Checkerdome.

The initial results were not good. In 1978-79, the Blues won 18 of 80 games, or just one more than the NFL's 1972 Miami Dophins. Attendance had gone from a peak of 18,601 a game in 1972-73 to 10,130. But things began to turn around as Francis drafted players like Bernie Federko, Brian Sutter, Wayne Babych and Perry Turnbull. Checks were back in the Checkerdome.

In 1980-81, with Berenson behind the bench, the Blues had a 107-point season and put hockey back on the St. Louis radar. But the renaissance was short-lived. The team slipped under .500 the following season and managed just 65 points in 1982-83. Dean retired and his successor, William Stiritz, had no interest in continuing the involvement in hockey. Looking at losses of more than $10 million over six seasons, the pet food giant put the Blues up for sale and in January 1983, announced it had a buyer in Saskatoon-based Batoni-Hunter Enterprises, Ltd.

Batoni's president, Bill Hunter, said his group was ready to break ground on a $43 million building, which could be ready for the Saskatoon Blues in time for the 1983-84 season. Reluctant to give up on the St. Louis market, the NHL blocked the sale. Incensed, Ralston Purina sued the NHL, padlocked the Checkerdome and abandoned the franchise, leaving a mess for the league to sort out. The team did not even participate in the 1983 NHL draft, forfeiting all of its picks.

ornest takes over

Ten days before the deadline NHL President John Ziegler set for dissolving the franchise, Los Angeles-based entrepreneur Harry Ornest stepped up with the only formal bid. He purchased the team and its player contracts for $3 million in cash and $9 million in two notes. He also purchased the Checkerdome from Ralston Purina for $5 million, then raised $3 million in operating expenses.